A Girl Called Jack Cover Photo

Monday, September 7, 2015

Chapter 9

“That’s the size of
the truck bed we have to work with.Fourteen by six.The bed is twenty
inches deep without the camper top.”

“And the topper
adds?”

“Near the cab it adds
another twenty inches of height.At the
tailgate it adds thirty-six inches.Seems like it should be a lot but now that I’m filling it …”

“We’ll work it out
somehow.Unless you need me for some
lifting I’m going to start wrapping the mattresses.Uh … you sure about …”

“Dezz you said
yourself that the cellar is a good size but it isn’t the Taj freaking
Mahal.The girls will just wind up in
the same bed anyway so we take the full size for them to share.We take the king sized mattress off my
parents’ bed so in case all four of us have to be in the same bed for warmth.”

“Yeah … but what
about …”

Quietly Jack said,
“You aren’t Don.And … and the rest of
it will work itself out.Just don’t …
make things complicated.Not unless we
get ready for complicated at some point and both want it.”

Just as quietly Desi
asked, “You sure?I know I was
complaining about the mattresses but … I … I didn’t mean for it to sound like
it came out.”

“You need to stop
worrying that I’m going to go off like a Tallahassee bottle rocket.I’m not the women in your family.”

“Yeah well … it is
taking some getting used to I admit,” he said with a small grin.“But you know what I mean.It seems like this is getting more
complicated than I ever thought about it being.Then there is that Josh thing.”

“There is no ‘Josh
thing’ so just drop it.He left me and
never looked back.The jerk had the
nerve to say it was for my own good that he was setting me free.Like he was doing me a giant favor or
something.Ass.I thought we were working on forever.Apparently he was just working on what was
easy.I’m done with him and if I never
hear his name again it will be too soon.Got it?”

For about a second
and a half Jack looked outraged then she just looked tired.“Don’t worry about it.Let’s just keep going.”

“Ok, but when I’m
finished wrapping the mattresses and getting them tied down I’m going to take a
quick creep.”

Jack looked at him
sharply.“Dezz …”

“I know
Jackalene.Still, I wanna look one last
time.I also need to make sure that the
gates at the back of the subdivision haven’t been blocked off or chained or
something.I doubt they are but I don’t
want to drive out of here and suddenly find a hitch in our plan before we’ve
even gotten on the highway.”

It was smart, Jack
admitted it to herself, but all she did was nod and try not to watch when after
about an hour he told her he was finished with the mattresses and heading out
for “wood.”The girls wanted to know if
they were leaving that night why they needed more wood.

“Because your brother
likes to be ready for just in case. Concha that box isn’t even half full.Look through the games and books again.Remember this is all the toys and stuff we
are going to be able to take and all you’ll have for a long time.Lena start bringing me the rest of that stack
of Mom’s cookbooks and recipe boxes.I’m
taking these even if I have to tie them to the hood of the truck.”

“What about all the
pictures?Is there room for them?”

“Yeah.The ones from the wall will have to come out
of their frames but we’ll squeeze them in.”

“Even the pretty
silver frames?”

“Would you rather
save the pictures or the frames?”

Lena merely sighed,
did as she was asked then went to help Concha pick through some of the books
and toys.“Can we take movies?” she
asked a few minutes later.

“No Lena,” Jack asked
on a long suffering sigh.

“But you’re taking
all the family movies that Daddy took?Right?”

“That’s
different.There isn’t going to be a tv
or electricity to watch them on and they’ll take space we don’t have, but the
family movies are … are memories … for down the road.”

“What about movies
for later when the ‘canoes are over?”

That stopped Jack and
she didn’t know exactly how to answer that “later” might be not be until they
were too old to even want to watch the movies she wanted to take. Instead she said, “We’ll have to figure that
out when the time comes.For now let’s
just do the best we can.Though … look,
bring over the zipper book that Mom was going to organize the game console
stuff in.No Lena … no way can we take
the game console but if you take the games out and put the DVDs in there then …
then maybe at some point we can have them to watch.”

“Down the road?” the
little girl asked hopefully.

“Yeah Squirt, down
the road.Just stick with the Disney’s
first, then the Classics, and … and then we’ll have to see how many slots there
are and how many we can find room for.”

A couple of hours
later the girls fell asleep after helping to move some of the lighter boxes and
totes for Jack to pack.The temperature
was starting to drop and Jack was trying not to worry about Desi being gone so
long.She added a couple of pieces of
wood to the fire and set a pot of hamburger soup close to it so it could simmer
and be ready to get dumped into the lunch box thermoses that were lined up
there as well.Jack went back to loading
things in the truck; if she hadn’t she wouldn’t have heard them.

“C’mon dumbass.Help us and we’ll go easy on the
chicklets.Don’t help and we’ll use ‘em
long and hard.Up to you.”There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh.”

Then another voice
came jogging up.“No way we’re getting
in that front door.Metal in metal.It’s this one or a window.”

Someone trying to
sound in charge snapped, “Told you asshats I didn’t want to break any windows
yet.Might draw the neighbors and give
‘em time to organize against us like across the road.That’s why York ain’t with us no more.”

Creepers.Jack was about to count how many when she saw
a chisel wedge its way between the frame and side door.Jack almost cussed but instead grabbed the
fourteen pound bulldog sledge hammer she had been trying to find a place for
and brought it down on the head of the first creeper through the door.She heard his noggin pop like a melon.She kept swinging until Desi grabbed her and
said, “Whoa Jack … alto bebe’, alto.They’re all down.Stop
Jackalene.”

Jack was breathing
hard.Desi’s arms were around her from
behind and his hands were on hers trying to control the swings she was still
taking with the sledge hammer.“It’s ok
Jack.Let me take the hammer.”

Slowly Jack let go and
then ran into the house but was relieved to find the girls had slept through
the whole thing.She turned only to stop
in shock.Desi was covered in blood and
at least some of it was obviously his. “Oh god,” she mouthed without letting a sound
passed her lips.She ran over to him and
pulled him into the utility room.“Did I
hit you?!”

Desi leaned on the
washer and asked, “You saying it would take a sledgehammer to take me out?”

“I’m saying … saying
…”Then she stuck her head down the
utility sink and started puking.She
heard Desi grunt in surprise but she couldn’t find the wherewithal to be
embarrassed.All she could do was puke
and shake.

Forty minutes later
it was cleaned up … Jack’s puke, the mess she and Desi had made of the
creepers, and getting rid of the bodies by dumping them down into the flood way
that was running fast and mean from the hard, dirty rain that had started to
fall.

“Dezz …”

“I’m fine
Jackalene.It’s over.”

“Then for gosh sake
why go back out?You said all the
abandoned houses had been broken into and about half of them trashed.No telling when the rest of their creeper
gang is going to be back.”

“This was the day
crew.Next crew won’t show up to clean
up until almost daybreak tomorrow, if then.I wanna see what they have stashed in that trailer.They owe us.”

“They owe us
what?They’ve already paid with their
lives.”

“Pain and
suffering.They went too fast.If there hadn’t been so many of them …”

“Dangit Dezz don’t go
all male machismo on me.You took on six
guys with a freakin’ box cutter after they hit you from behind and took the
gun.”

“I got it back.I wasn’t gonna lose your dad’s gun.”

“It could have laid
there and rusted for all I care!You … you
…”

“But I didn’t.You didn’t.We kept the girls safe.Sucks for
the bad guys but they got what they went looking for whether they knew they were
looking for it or not.But this just
means we really gotta get out of here tonight.They have the whole neighborhood mapped.They know about you and the supplies.They said it was Vern that gave you up.Do you understand what that means Chica?”

“It means … it means
that if Vern was picked up by the National Guard then some of the guards or
local cops are probably in on this.There’s no way it could have gotten to the creepers that fast
otherwise.”

“Good.You see it.The who’s and why’s don’t matter though except we gotta go as soon as we
can pack up and head out.But I’m gonna
check that stash.We deserve that much.”

“But geez Dezz, where
are we going to put it?”

“Depends on what it
is.You just keep packing.I won’t be long.”

As he jogged away
holding his side where he’d been sliced and kicked by the guy he’d taken out
with the box cutter Jack muttered, “That’s what you said last time.”